The present invention relates to fishing lures and, more particularly, to subsurface fishing lures which are designed to travel below the surface of a body of water when being retrieved. Even more particularly, the invention relates to subsurface fishing lures adapted to, among other things, create sound for attracting fish.
Fishing lures come in variety of forms, shapes, and colors, and can be designed to attract certain types of fish. Lures are commonly made to resemble live bait and have at least one sharp hook for hooking fish. In use, lures are connected to one end of a fishing line having an opposite end connected to a reel of a fishing rod. The line may be wound or unwound from the reel in order to retrieve or cast the lure, respectively, as desired.
There are two broad categories of fishing lures. A first category includes surface lures which travel along the surface of water when being retrieved. They are often designed to resemble bait or prey which dwell on the water""s surface and are used to catch surface feeding fish such as large mouth bass, pike and muskie.
An obvious problem with surface lures is that they are not particularly effective in attracting fish which feed at lower levels.
The present invention relates to a second category of lures known as subsurface lures. These are lures which travel below the surface of the water when being retrieved. Subsurface lures include sinking lures and diving lures. Sinking lures automatically sink below the surface of the water when at rest. Diving lures float on the water when at rest, but dive below the surface when being reeled in. This is due to their particular shape, weight distribution, and location of attachment to a fishing line, as determined with reference to the body of the lure.
It is commonly believed that fish are attracted to sound, light and motion, and numerous fishing lures have been designed in the past to create such stimuli in the water. Examples of noise creating or audible fishing lures include those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,833,078; 2,853,826; 2,881,548; 2,999,329; 2,977,705; 3,296,733; 3,000,130; 3,449,852 and 5,497,581. In view of the popularity of sport fishing for many outdoor enthusiasts, there is an ever present need to provide new audible subsurface fishing lures. Accordingly, an object of the invention is to meet this need.
The invention provides an audible subsurface fishing lure for travelling below the surface of a body of water when the lure is retrieved. The lure includes a subsurface lure body having a front, a rear, and a longitudinal axis extending between the front and the rear. A spinner is rotatably coupled to the lure body and rotatable about a first axis generally parallel to the longitudinal axis. Furthermore, a contact member is pivotally coupled to the lure body and engageable with the spinner, when the spinner is rotating, to produce sound for attracting fish.